3
34 The Origin of St. Paul. Chap. II.
From this wide and diversified training we may under- stand better Paul's suitability to develop the primitive Judaic Church into the Church of the Roman World (for beyond that he never went in practice, though in theory he recognised no limit short of universal humanity), his extraordinary versatility and adaptability (which evidently impressed Luke so much, p. 22), and his quickness to turn the resources of civilisation to his use. The Jew in his own land was rigidly conservative ; but the Jew abroad has always been the most facile and ingenious of men. There are no stronger influences in education and in administration than rapidity and ease of travelling and the postal service ; Paul both by precept and example impressed the importance of both on his Churches ; and the subsequent development of the Church was determined greatly by the constant inter- communication of its parts and the stimulating influence thereby produced on the whole.
2. PAUL'S FAMILY. If Paul belonged to a family of wealth and position, how comes it that in great part of his career (but not in the whole, p. 312) he shows all the marks of poverty, maintaining himself by his own labour, and gratefully acknowledging his indebted- ness to the contributions of his Philippian converts, in Rome, in Corinth, and twice in Thessalonica {Phil. IV 15, II Cor. XI 9; see p. 360)? It was not simply that he voluntarily worked with his hands in order to impress on his converts the dignity and duty of labour, for he conveys the impression, II Cor. XI 8 f., I Thess. II 9, that he had to choose between accepting help from his converts, and making his own living. But it often happens in our own experience that a member of a rich family is in a position
Sec a. Paul's Family. 35
of poverty. It would be enough simply to accept the fact ; but, as Paul in his later career is found in a different position, and as the same conjecture about his poverty must arise in every one's mind, we may glance for a moment at the relations in which Paul would stand to his own family after his conversion.
The relations between Paul and his family are never alluded to by himself, and only once by Luke, who tells how his sister's son saved his life in Jerusalem by giving private information of the secret conspiracy against him, XXIII 16. How could this young man get immediate information about a conspiracy, which was concocted by a band of zealots, and arranged in private with the high priests and elders ? In absolute secrecy lay the sole hope of success ; and the conspiracy must therefore have been imparted only to a few, and probably only the leaders of the extreme Jewish party were aware of it. We must, I think, infer that the nephew acquired his information in the house of some leading Jew (to which he had access as belonging to an influential family), and that he was himself not a Christian, for in the heated state of feeling it may be taken as practically certain that a Christian would not have had free and confidential entry to the house of one of the Jewish leaders. But, further, if Paul's nephew were trusted with such a secret, it must have been assumed that he was hostile to Paul.
Now, as Paul himself says, he had been brought up in strict Judaic feeling, not as a Sadducee, accepting the non-Jewish spirit, but as a Pharisee ; and we must infer that the spirit of his family was strongly Pharisaic. The whole history of the Jews shows what was likely to be the feeling among his parents and brothers and
36 The Origin of St. Paul. Chap. II.
sisters, when he not merely became a Christian, but went to the Gentiles. Their pride was outraged ; and we should naturally expect that such a family would regard Paul as an apostate, a foe to God and the chosen race, and a disgrace to the family ; his own relatives might be expected to be his most bitter enemies. Looking at these probabilities, we see a special force in Paul's words to the Philippians, III 8, that he had given up all for Christ, "for whom I suffered the loss of all things and do count them but refuse ". These emphatic words suit the mouth of one who had been disowned by his family, and reduced from a position of wealth and influence in his nation to poverty and contempt.